Wikimapia
WikiMapia is an online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information (in the form of a note) to any location on Earth.
Created by Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev, the project was launched on May 24, 2006 and is aiming towards "describing the whole planet Earth". WikiMapia is unrelated to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, but the website states that it was "inspired by Wikipedia."
WikiMapia allows any contributor to add a "Hotspot" to any map by marking out a rectangle (with the maximum length of any one side being 20 kilometers) which is wiki-linked to a note providing information about the locality. The note may be in any of 64 languages currently supported, and may be modified by any contributor, as in a wiki. The link is activated by clicking within the rectangular "Hotspot".
Growth
- By August 162006, one million localities had been identified, the counter passed two million on November 22 2006, 3 million on March 82007 and 4 million on June 26 2007.
A project has begun to translate the user interface of WikiMapia into 64 languages other than the current English interface.
Especially in some areas of the world with out-of-date or very expensive mapping, such as India, growth has been phenomenally rapid. However, this rapid growth has brought problems of its own with urban areas being covered with thousands of overlapping rectangles marking the position of private residences, but with no facility available in the WikiMapia interface to display places of public interest (as opposed to those of very restricted interest such as private houses, flats and apartments).
New features and plans
In the initial implementation, WikiMapia had no registered users and no administrative hierarchy. All users edited anonymously and there was no mechanism for monitoring or disciplining problematic users. A user registration system started on 8 October 2006. Users who have been registered for three days or more are granted some administrative powers, including the power to move, resize, delete, or protect objects. "Points" are granted to active users for adding, reviewing, and correcting places; as points accumulate, a user is allegedly granted additional powers. Active users of Wikipedia, and users in contact with Wikimapia before October 5 2006, are exempt from the three-day waiting period.
On 23 March2007 the ability to outline an irregular polygon in green (in addition to the original rectangle of variable size) was introduced in Wikimapia.
Until autumn 2007 Wikimapia plans to greatly improve overall site functionality.
Business model
The site generates some income with Google ads. In July 2007 Wikimapia founders decided to start looking for an investor to accomplish their plans.
Interoperability and licence
A GPS receiver can be connected to WikiMapia using a plug-in program (beta, download for Windows OS from WikiMapia site).
Limited WikiMapia functionality is available on:
- Google Earth, using Google Earth dynamic layer in KML file.
- Google Maps Mapplet using special layer.
- Most Java-enabled cellphones using 3rd party software such as Mobile GMaps.
WikiMapia may be incorporated into any Internet website by its webmaster. One opens WikiMapia, selects the desired option, and chooses "Map on your page" from the menu. The user then selects the map coordinates and inserts the indicated HTML code into the desired website code.
As of early 2007, the site does not describe the licensing terms of user-contributed information and does not provide a way for third parties to download the contributed information except viewing from Wikimapia site.
Criticism
A problematical aspect to the open for all edit model in WikiMapia is that both unthinking users and out and out vandals have considerable scope for cluttering the virtual world of WikiMapia with superfluous features and erroneous or obscene comments.
The small number of voluntary and officially unrecognised enforcers is different to the selection of administrators on Wikipedia, where administrators are chosen by a more open process.